Finlands defense minister talks NATO, Ukraine and fishing

Finland’s Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen visited New Zealand on Oct. 21 to discuss security issues with officials there. His travel agenda also included Australia and Japan, signaling the Northern European country’s interest in the region despite the geographical distance.

“We are reinforcing our relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region. In addition, we see plenty of opportunities to deepen defense materiel cooperation,” Häkkänen was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Finnish government ahead of the trip.

He caught up with Defense News in Wellington for a brief interview.

What NATO assets is Finland prepared to host?

When we joined NATO we were prepared, nationally, to defend ourselves. As a NATO member our first responsibility is a strong, national defense with lots of European assets in the Navy, Air Force and also in space nowadays.

We have established NATO’s northern Europe’s land headquarters in the Arctic area, on Finnish soil. So we are leading the land defense.

What are your priorities for Finland’s defense?

We have four pillars in our defense policy. The first one is that Finland, by itself, has to be always, always, ready to defend our own country.

Second, is strong NATO in northern Europe. Now we have built NATO’s capabilities to operate in Arctic areas, so we are really happy to see that  NATO’s evermore able to act in the north.

Third, is defense corporation with different countries. Some countries — for example the United States and European countries — are in operational planning on how to act together in crisis situations, so that’s the third pillar. Supporting NATO’s Article five. 

And the fourth pillar is comprehensive security. We have to have enough from our own country: energy, food, equipment from the defense industry. We have civil shelters for almost 5.5 million people [editor’s note: much of Finland’s total population], and the whole society has to be prepared to act in crisis mode. Every company has to plan how they can operate, even if war starts. 

We are developing and investing heavily in those pillars. The Finnish way to do things is cost-effective, high-quality and win-win. We are not just saying that Finland needs something, we’re also ready to provide our knowledge, our expertise.

How do your NH90 operations compare with New Zealand’s?

There were difficulties at the start. But now our special forces and our land forces are using the NH90 and they have been customized to Finnish needs, to our special environment. Our pilots are really satisfied and when they have compared NH90 to some other equipment that is now in the market, they think that this is still the best one. 

How is Finland supporting Ukraine ?

Heavily, by all the political levels. We are heavy supporters of Ukrainian military from our stocks. We are giving a lot of money, because we see that if Ukraine doesn’t stop Russia, Russia’s hunger will grow for Europe and they will do something nasty.

Supporting Ukraine is also supporting our own security and it shows all the other dictators around the world that democratic nations are united to support Ukraine and oppose violence against neighbors. That’s why we are really happy to see that New Zealand’s also [supporting] Ukraine. 

France has offered to extend its nuclear deterrent to Europe, what do you think of that proposal ?

Let me be clear, NATO’s nuclear deterrence comes [from] U.S. weapon systems, that’s for sure, but France gives an additional, extra deterrence and that will create some strategic dilemmas for Putin.

What keeps you awake at night ?

My kids! I have two small kids and I live at the eastern border, at the Russian border, so I’m cool. I fish there, in beautiful lakes, and I have my house there with my family, so I’m taking it easy, like everyone who lives [there]. That’s a strong border. 

We have always tried to have diplomatic relations with Russia, but throughout history, from Catherine the Great to Peter the Great, Russians have always been willing to use violence, against their own people, but also against their neighbors.

That’s why Finland has been always pragmatic in defense and security, you have to always be ready. That’s why we are so cool and calm. There [are] a million reservists in Finland, everyone has had military training. We know that Russia is a threat, but we have to just do our stuff, be prepared to invest heavily, keep our friends close, get new friends globally and do stuff right —that’s the Finnish way to handle a difficult security situation.

The Joint Expeditionary Force, is that proving useful?

JEF is one of the most important defense operations for Finnish and northern Europe’s defense. We think that the most valuable part of JEF is that it can react fast; JEF has already operated, so there’s no need to wait for some kind of clear Article Five case.

How can New Zealand’s forces support yours?

Well, we are now having this dialogue between our partners … there’s different kinds of possibilities with different organizations. For example, today we discussed space capabilities, Finland has a lot of space companies and a lot of technological expertise, but New Zealand has different kinds of space capability, launching, for example. Also countering problems with undersea cables.

Do you see Ukraine joining NATO?

Maybe someday. Ukraine’s path is to the West, to their democratic alliances in Europe. But all the NATO countries have to approve it and U.S. and other countries have said no at this point.

About a quarter of New Zealand’s defense force consists of women, do you know the percentage of women in Finland’s forces?

It’s much smaller, but it’s rising. All the men are obliged to participate and it’s voluntary for women. The number of women are growing now because everyone in Finland wants to participate.

Is everyone still happy in Finland?

Yeah, we’re the happiest nation in the world, for nine years in a row. Even though there’s some challenges and dark clouds in the war in Europe, still people in Finland are quite cool.

Russia is building new military infrastructure near our borders, so we have to do more for our security. But we can do it, it’s not a big problem.

I’m optimistic. The Finnish mindset … it’s kind of a mixup of reason and optimism. You face the world as it is. You have to adapt, take your chances, find the possibilities in economy, security and do the best that you can do.